The game of golf spans a long and distinguished history. Golf is played by individuals from all walks of life and continues to gain popularity with each passing day. While once the province of wealthy middle aged males who were members of expensive and exclusive country clubs, the game of golf is now enjoyed by men and women and young and old alike. It is no surprise that golf is so popular in this day and age. A round of golf is the perfect "getaway" from the hectic lifestyles of today. Golf course availability and accessibility is greater today than ever and many are starting to discover this sport for what it is--a relaxing and refreshing opportunity to be outside, often in beautiful surroundings, and to engage in some healthy competition.
While many golfers simply enjoy hitting the ball and/or spending time with friends, acquaintances or business contacts, there are others who are more competitive and consider their performance, and thus their score, to be the primary motivating factor for continuing to play the game. For these competitive types as well as for the occasional golfer who likes to monitor his or her progress toward becoming a better golfer, it is important to keep score during the game. As any golfer knows, the golfer with the lowest score (or number of strokes) is generally the winner of the golf round or tournament. In some circumstances, however, handicaps are used to allow for a better challenge when two or more golfers of disparate abilities play in the same round. In any event, it is generally necessary to keep track of the number of strokes taken for each hole and for the complete round when any sort of competition is involved or if a golfer merely wants to keep track of his or her performance.
Typically, prior to beginning a golf round, the golfers are supplied with a scorecard in order to keep track of their score. One or two players are typically designated or volunteer to be the scorekeeper for the round. The duties of the golf scorekeeper requires such person to poll all golfers upon completion of each hole regarding what their score was for the particular hole. For the normal round of 18 holes, this occurs 18 times and at the end of the round, the scores for each of the holes are totaled to compute each player's score for the round.
There are a number of drawbacks to this method of keeping score. First, in many cases, the scorekeeper, otherwise caught up in the beauty of the course, his or her last shot or some other distraction, may forget to poll the golfers at the end of the particular hole. It may not be until one or more strokes into the next hole or even a hole thereafter that the scorekeeper realizes that he forgot to ask his companions for their scores. By that time, memories can often be faulty and the actual score may not be finally reflected on the scorecard. Similarly, a player, himself may forget the number of strokes taken during a particular hole. A second drawback to the prior art method for keeping score is the fact that there is no verification of scores attained. While the casual golfer is less concerned with his companions' scores and more concerned with his own performance, in a competition (perhaps involving wagering or prizes), disagreements may arise regarding a particular player's score on a particular hole. While golf is known as a gentleman's game and honor and trust is generally the rule, there are those who may be inclined to report their score incorrectly for various reasons. Yet another drawback to the manual score keeping of the prior art is the requirement for scorecards and pencils. Pencils and/or scorecards may be lost along the way during a round of golf (especially on windy days) leaving the players with no place to keep their scores other than in their memories. Additionally, the cost of scorecards and pencils, while not a major expenditure for the course management, is still yet another cost in connection with running a golf course.
Another problem associated with the prior art method of keeping score is that persons (e.g. other player's in a different foursome, a tournament director, spectators or a golf marshall) who are interested in golfers' scores or progress as they are being attained must accompany the golfers or someone else must accompany the golfers and manually report scores to a central location. This is not the optimum situation especially in a small golf tournament (presuming that TV coverage is not available). Thus, players (or other interested parties) can not typically be kept abreast of their competitors ongoing scores as the round is played. Instead, all players must meet when everyone has concluded their round and then determine who is the winner.